Halifax Claim My Payments Are Late

Andy_1234

Hi,

Halifax are claiming my payments are late, even though I am paying by direct bank transfer, using Barclays PIN sentry online. Here is a breakdown of the payments made.

September:
Payment Due: 5th September
Payment Made: 4th September (pm)
Barclays say the payment was at Halifax on: 5th September
Halifax claim they recieved the payment on: 7th September

October
Payment Due: 7th October
Payment Made: 6th October (pm)
Barclays say the payment was at Halifax on: 7th October
Halifax claim they recieved the payment on: 10th October

I make payments online with the pinsentry and every time the payment is instant. I do this with all other credit cards and the money is credited in my account the same day. I rang Halifax who say they dont have the facility to take instant payments. They just said it will always take 3 working days to clear, which isn't true as it cleared in 1 working day (one day too long in my opinion)

I know I should make the payment sooner, but due to when I get paid I have to wait until the payment is due before paying.

It angers me that there appears to be nothing I can do to dispute it, and my credit rating will now have dropped.

Halifax claimed that even though Barclays can prove when it left my account, they can't prove when Halifax accepted it. Which begs the question, where was my money?

Is there some sort of watchdog that oversees what these banks get up to?

Many Thanks
Andy

[Deleted User]

It gets debited pretty quickly, but a couple of days to be allocated to your account (ie to clear).

Try not to leave payments until the wire, it's rarely worth the risk. If it depends on you getting paid, see if you can get your payment date shifted by Halifax.

dshart

This is fairly standard and even though in this day and age of electronic banking it should not be happening, it still does. You will probably find that when you made the payment online it will state somewhere that it may take several days for the payment to appear on the beneficiaries account. I do not know about Barclays but with HSBC I usually get a note onscreen saying something like it will credit to another HSBC account within 2 hours but may take a couple of days to other banks.

I dont think there is much you can do about it except allow for the delay when making your payments.

Andy_1234

I know I shouldn't leave payments so close to the due date, but recently I haven't had much choice. I will contact them and see if they can move the date back slightly.

All other credit cards credit my account on the day the payment is made. The lady on the phone tried to convince me that it takes time for someone to check the payment has been made into the account, that's why is takes a few days. Now that, is bull****.

I will just have to put this behind me and learn from it. I'm annoyed because I need to get a different credit card in December as my 0% deal runs out. Not sure what these two late charges will do to my rating.

Dabooka

Have they actually recorded it as late to the credit agencies or just hit you with the fee? I have a feeling they don't always report it if it's a close thing as yours are.

Andy_1234

Dabooka wrote: »

Have they actually recorded it as late to the credit agencies or just hit you with the fee? I have a feeling they don't always report it if it's a close thing as yours are.

I assumed it would be reported as I didn't think they distinguished between a day, week, month late etc.

I hope it hasn't been reported, but I guess there is nothing I can do even it it has.

GentleGiant_2

Wouldn't it be easier to set up a DD for the minimum amount and then add to this if you can / want to.

pqrdef

Payments usually go into a collections account, and it's not unheard of, though less common nowadays, for the bank to take an extra day from receiving the money to credit the customer account.

But the dates you give can't be explained like that. And it's not really credible that Halifax are just sitting on money received for arbitrary periods for no good reason. They would never get away with it.

But the dates you give are consistent with BACS transfers, allowing for weekends - Sun to Wed and Thu to Mon. This would suggest that Barclays are misinforming you, the Halifax collection account doesn't take FPs, and Halifax are crediting the money when they get it.

Don't they take payments by debit card?

lizzywig

Even thought my payements with my bank are automatic they recipient always takes a couple of days to recieve it. I would suggest one of two things, either you ask your suppliers to move your payment due dates or you try and keep some money back this month ready to pay early next month. You will then be able to pay early every month and not have this worry.

cord123

Instead of paying from your bank, could you not just ring up halifax to pay over the phone? Surely that would count as you paying from that day would it not?

garth549

Edit: misread post sorry